Portrush, Northern Ireland – with the Northern Irish sun beating on the links below him, Rory McILroy was held on the 17th Box of Tee – one of the highest points of Royal Portrush – and took the stage in the open championship.
On the left, there was a hill containing a number of fans hoping to have a glimpse of his TEE shot. To his right, more fans have pushed against the strings just to try to get closer. When he was waiting to strike, McILroy let himself smile. The songs quickly started.
“Rory! Rory! Rory!”
They had continued all day – noisy while he was sneaky on the opening hole, even stronger when he typed for another blade out of 2 and as strong as they had been all week when he struck his approach shot on the fourth by 4 and started 3 in four. Eight holes later, on the 12th, the noise reached a highlight. The 56 -foot eagle putt from McILroy took a tour of the bottom of the hole. A fist pump. A roar. It was the moment when they all expected.
“The roar of this ball was crazy. He was crazy all day, but the noise after this putt entered was incredible,” said McILroy. “It was a really cool moment … could be one of the coolest moments I have ever had on a golf course.”
All day long, thousands of fans – whether Ireland from the North or beyond – seemed to transport McILroy from one hole to another. Birdie or Bogey, the noise was there, in crescending when it reached each green.
At each turn, through the dunes and pedestrian crossings, each crowded hill and in gathering, the crowd recalled that McILroy was, and was the main event this week. Outside the hotel next to the fourth fairway, a group of workers were all standing in a single file of files to watch McILroy pass. Beside the green on the fifth, fans climbed the neighboring beach at the top of a dune that allowed them to have an overview of the action.
Once McILroy was able to remove this 17th tee, his shot found the right gallery. A fan picked up his ball – everything closer to their hero of the hometown. While standing in a swarm of his supporters, McILroy replaced him, aligned the difficult approach drawn on a Greenside bunker and landed it safely on green. He advanced and the crowd that had separated like the Red Sea to let him reform behind him, becoming stronger by the second.
“Rory! Rory! Rory!”
At various times on Saturday, the dream of a return victory for them and McILroy felt alive. And yet, between the moments of madness, the most inevitable force of sport is looming in silence.
Enter Scottie Scheffler.
The 17th green and the 13th green at Royal Portrush are connected and, while McILroy tracked his Birdie Putt, Scheffler stood at the top of the opposite hill. Where else’s Scheffler’s departure stroke? – High pin. McILroy had stolen from the dashboards throughout the day to see where he was standing. This time, the harsh reality of what he faced looked at him directly.
“Scottie Scheffler is – it’s inevitable,” said Mcilroy. “Even when he doesn’t have his best things. He’s so solid. He doesn’t make mistakes.”
Scheffler made the peer on 13 and added another birdie on Calamity Corner, the 16th hard, long and per-3 hole which gave players adjustments all week. Not a scheffler. He sorted out it every three days.
“There does not seem to be weakness there,” said McILroy. “Whenever you try to continue a guy like that, it’s difficult to do.”
It is not only the dream of McILroy that Scheffler foiled. Matthew Fitzpatrick is five shots before Sunday. He was just a blow to start the day. Russell Henley fired 65 years on Saturday and Xander Schauffele fired 66 years. The two are seven blows behind and feel like long shots before Sunday.
“When I watch Scottie play a lot, it seems just blackened, doing his thing. He’s just in his own world and nothing bothers him,” said Schauffele. “He often happens to this place, which is a good thing for him.”
“It is incredible,” said Harris English, who, like McILroy, is behind six strokes. “I can’t say anything wrong about the guy. It’s impressive to watch, and what he does is incredible.”
Even Haotong Li, who did not fade and did not shoot on 69 years who gave him four shots of Scheffler and in the last group on Sunday, could not help recognizing his position.
“Four shots behind, a bit like the game for the second,” said Li. “Especially playing (ING) with n ° 1.” global. “”
There is something almost annoying in the way, as players cannot help recognizing the exceptional performance of Scheffler, Scheffler himself will minimize them at each stage. Even when presented with an objective example of his own size – the fact that he has closed nine consecutive tracks of 54 holes – Scheffler increases his shoulders.
“Your supposition is as good as mine,” said Scheffler to know why it was a more effective. “I like to be here in competition.”
Even if he deplodes the flying nature of winning as he did this week earlier, the obsession of Scheffler for the competition – whether he likes him – brought him to a place where he is chased by everyone while he pursues history, the ghosts of the golf past and a comparison of tiger wood which continues to lose, and not to lose, vapor. With a victory on Sunday, Scheffler will be the fourth player to win four majors before their 30th anniversary. The last to do was Woods.
McILroy and everyone behind him must believe that they control their destiny on Sunday. But in reality, their hopes depend on the performance of a guy who defeats dreams to earn a living.
